Have the trio of Rohit Sharma-Ajit Agarkar-Gautam Gambhir got the bowling combination right for the champions trophy? At the Dubai International Stadium, where India will play their champions trophy matches, the pitch has helped the bowlers no doubt, but more to the pacers than slow bowlers. India are taking more spinners than pacers for the ICC event.
India’s squad for the #ChampionsTrophy 2025 announced! 💪 💪
Drop in a message in the comments below 🔽 to cheer for #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/eFyXkKSmcO
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 18, 2025
In the four games at the venue in the ongoing ILT20 matches so far, the pacers have taken 41 wickets as against eight by the spinners with the average first-innings score 146 runs. The teams chasing the target have won three out of the four games played there. In the squad picked by Agarkar’s selection committee on Saturday (January 18), there are three pacers and a seaming all-rounder (Hardik Pandya) as against four specialist spinners.
The formation, seemingly, reflects Rohit Sharma’s strategic dependence on spinners. He appears intended to deploy the tactics in the 50-over Champions Trophy that brought him success in the Twenty20 World Cup last year. The Indian brain trust looks dependent on Ravindra Jadeja & Co to be the squad’s main weapons in the competition, particularly given the unpredictability on the availability of spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
It is as much a conjecture as one can imagine on the chances of success for the spinners in the UAE pitches but the skipper has clearly opted for a spin-heavy squad, as he had done during the campaign in the US and the Caribbean. If Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal were part of the last year’s contingent, which ended up lifting the ICC Trophy, three of the four form the current composition along with Washington Sundar (in place of Chahal), for the February19-March 9 competition.
The India skipper does not contradict the inference that the attack is spin-centric but he gives it a slightly different narrative to it. He calls them all-rounders rather than mere spinners. “It just gives us a little bit of depth as well when you have those all-rounders, spinning all-rounders,” the skipper makes the point.
Kuldeep, one of the game changers of the last year’s campaign, had claimed 10 wickets in five games almost as much as Axar, who played six games claiming nine wickets. Jadeja had only one wicket but he delivered when it mattered. Chahal did not get to play a single game. Rohit expects runs from the four spinners – Jadeja, Axar, Sundar and Kuldeep – as much as some quality overs.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have too many seaming all-rounders. But you want to take your batting as deep as possible along with some quality bowling as well. These guys who we have picked… they all can bat, they can bowl. They are not there to fill the role of a bowler or fill the role of a batter. They have performed in the situation where the team and I are very comfortable with what they do, with their certain role. To have these kinds of options is always nice.”
The skipper seems happy with the overall bowling resources with India having Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Pandya apart from the four spinners. “When you have quality like that, your squad looks like it has got a lot of depth. With the quality of the spin, you can cover all bases.”
The big aspect of the selection is that head coach Gambhir seems aligned to Rohit’s idea, much like Rahul Dravid did last year, indicating that both the skipper and the coach are on the same page strategically. There has been wild speculation of late about the equation between the captain and the coach and Rohit clarified that Gambhir has complete trust in his decisions and approach.
“Both of us are very clear in what we want to do. I’m not going to sit here and discuss what goes behind every game tactically but it’s very clear in my mind and Gautam is somebody once we enter the field he trusts what the captain is doing on the field.
“The basic talks that happen are only off the field, in the ground or maybe the changing room. But once we take the field it’s all about what I do on the field. That’s the kind of trust we have in each other and that’s how it should be. That’s about it.”
Gambhir, incidentally, also participated in the selection meeting virtually. If he is also happy with the selection, it can only bode well for India. All that the team needs now is runs from the skipper and some seniors and the Indian team could well be back to winning ways after the disappointing last three months.
🚨 No Md Siraj for the Champions Trophy 💔 pic.twitter.com/XVJDs9enmx
— Sports Culture (@SportsCulture24) January 18, 2025
